St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1887-03-15

one place the bodies taken out were placed
in a row. All were badly mangled. Large
numbers of women were on the train. and
many were to be seen in the ruins. One
woman was cut completely in two-the up
per half only being found. Two more who
were saved had their faces hacked. and the
lips of one were cut Off.
A CURIOUS FEATURE
of the disaster is found in the fact that the
entire bridge went down with the wreck.
Not a scrap of iron remained attached to
the abutmentS, and but for the chasm and
| the awful wreck beneath, there was nothing
to indicate that bridge had once spanned
| the abyss. The wreck of the bridge Law
under the debris of the train almost COM
pletelv shut ont from view. Lying by the
side of one of the Splntered cars was one
of the main iron girders of the bridge,
which showed clean new fracture through
its entire breadth. This grder was COM
posed of two parallel plates of heavy
wrought iron, connected by braces of
wrought iron and bolted together. The
opinion is generally expressed by those
who have personally inspected the wreck
that the breaking of the girder was the inn
mediate cause of the disaster, but there is
much doubt as to the cause of the breaking
of the girder. 1t is stated by some that
there was Il jarring and humping sensation
just previous to the crash. which gives color
to the thery that
THE FOURTH CAR,
the first to go through the bridge. was de-
rallied and thrown from its trucks to the
ties of the bridge with such force as to
cause its heavy iron support to give way.
At the point where the parallel pieces of
iron were boted together there was found a
fracture in the iron, part of which was
rusted and indicated an old flaw, while the
other portion showed clean fracture.
This might, in the opinion of some persons.
indicate that the old flaw had weakened the
truss or girder to such an extent that when
the full weight OF the train came upon the
bridge it caused the remainder of the truss
to give way, thus allowing the entire struc-
ture to fall. Another fact bearing on the
case of the disaster is the condition of the
cars which went over the bridge with
scarcely less damage than was inflicted upon
the coaches that went through to the high
way The first sign of violence is upon the
wood work OF the second truck OF the first
car of the train. A very violent blow from
underneath fractured very heavy 4X1O
inch oak timber in the frame of the truck.
The blow was so heavy that it lifted the
truck from the track and derailed the car.
Engineer White says that when going
across the bridge he felt shock which he
thought might have been caused by broken
axle. This, however, could not possibly
have been the first cause of the accident,
for the trucks of the fist two cars are in
good condition, except in regard to the
fractured oak timber mentioned above.
The only remaining possible cause of the
accident is
A BROKEN RAIL.
and it is doubtful if any investigation into
this point could result satisfactorily, for
there are many pieces of broken and twisted
rails snarled up in the wreck. The prob
able cause of the smashing of the three
cars nearest the engine, which remained Oh
top of the embankment, is that they must
have jumped the track when the rear car
went through the bridge. The Bussey
bridge was built fifteen years ago and dur
ing the past ten years has been repaired
three times. WOrkmen have been busy all
day in removing the debris from the street
and from the embankment. The wreck is
so complete that no attempt was made to
save any portion of the train. Additional
evidences were found of the terrible nature
OF the disaster at late hour
as the work of removing the wreck
progressed. In some places were fragments
OF flesh and pieces of clothing which had
belonged to some victim whose remains had
previously been removed. There was blood
over everything. Most of the pieces of
clothing found were from the gar
ments of women, and the fatality among
them was proportlonately greater. In one
place the bodies OF seven women were taken
out all horribly mangled. A pathetic sight
was that Of two girls whose arms were
elapsed around one another in the embrace
OF death. In many Instances axes and
crowbars were necessary in order to free
the persons who were pinioned in the
wreck. In two cases it was necessary to
CUT THE BODIES IN TWO
in order to get them out. They were al
ready crushed out of any semblance to
human shape, aud We're SO tightly wedged
in that they could be removed in no other
way. An old lady was taken from a car
uninjured but with her clothing torn to
shreds. She said the women in her car
seemed to be panic-stricken at the moment
the crash came. She saw one woman
dying in a seat, while another woman had
her head pillowed on the dying woman's
breast The headless trunk of a woman
was found lying across timber ON the
otlceG hiueI tle pIIuSe, Will one dILl coln-
pletely gone and the lower limbs all cut
and mangled The head was found among
the tangled iron and fragments of car a
few feet away. One man was seen to
walk from wreck in the direction of Ros-
lindale after the wreck, and when he had
gone dozen yards he fell dead either from
excitement or internal injury. Everybody
seemed daZed and could not realize what
had happened. Daniel Dougherty had an
awful experience. He was in the smoking
car playing cards with Ed Snow, Harry
Gay and Sergt. Lailler. The crash came
and the next thing he knew he was in the
muddy street uninjured and holding in his
hand the queen of diamonds, which was
covered with blood. His three companions
had all been killed.
rrr.no N An ~. nx,AnH